POP MUSIC REVIEW : Lovett and Jones’ Common Bond

Summer touring pardners Rickie Lee Jones and Lyle Lovett--the flying cowgirl and the gravity-defying Texan on a dream double-bill--enjoy a “common bond,” Lovett told the Greek Theatre crowd before joining Jones for her final number on Wednesday: “We both have the ability to foresee the dismal end of happiness.”

They also shared something else Wednesday, at least for a while--a certain stiffness. In Lovett’s case, it’s an essential and enjoyable part of his reticent stage persona, a stony facade with slight but obvious cracks.

With powerhouse backup singer Francine Reed and an R&B-based; “large band” on hand to play the yin to his wry and retiring country-folk yang, you never feel you’re missing anything in either emotional or show-biz terms. Despite his decided lack of “projection,” he consistently puts on one of the best shows in pop.

In the case of Jones, notoriously loose on stage, the stiffness was more disconcerting, as the early part of her always well-sung set was curiously uninvolving.

“I feel exceedingly shy tonight,” she explained at one point, in a near-whisper at odds with her soaring singing. “I can’t help it. It happens.” Had Lovett’s reticence rubbed off on Jones’ freewheeling nature a little too much?

But there was a marked turning point, and it seemed to come as she let herself loose on the wrenching “Company,” her modern-day balladic standard that puts Harry Connick Jr.’s slavish historical re-creations to shame. “I feel better now,” she affirmed a few songs later, and it was obvious from, among other things, Jones’ spirited slow dance in an aisle with a surprised usher to the rousing reggae/funk of “Ghetto of My Mind.”

A few busy numbers later--after a long, heartfelt plea against child abuse from Jones--such infectious happiness did come to an end; contrary to Lovett’s warning, there was nothing dismal about it. The twin bill also appears Sunday at the Santa Barbara County Bowl.